There was a man so displeased by the sight of his own shadow and the sound of his own footsteps that he was determined to get rid of both by running away from them.
But every time he put his foot down, there was another step, and his shadow kept up with him without the slightest difficulty.
He thought he must not be running fast enough, so he ran faster and faster and faster, without stopping, until he finally dropped dead of exhaustion.
He failed to realize that if he merely stepped into the shade, his shadow would vanish, and if he sat down and stayed still, there would be no more footsteps.
The end.
Chinese Philosopher and Poet, Chuang Tzu
A short story about emotions
We’re constantly running away from our emotions. Fear. Anxiety. Grief. We read books to learn how to rid ourselves of them. We go on meditation retreats in search of relief. We book fancy holidays for a chance to escape. Maybe we should pause and try sitting with our emotions. Just sitting, examining, accepting, and understanding. Afterall, these emotions have got our species this far, so it’s probably best not to run from them.
